Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-11-20

OF "Found Drowned" A certificate OF
this verdict, together with other docu-
ments relating 10 the death. was subse-
quently lodged by the Rev. Alfred
Stuckey, as administrator of the de-
ceased, with the Monument Assurance
Company, in whose Office the insurance
on Martin Stuckey's life had been eff
fectcd.
About week after this was done Mr..
Cappcr. the manager of the Monument
Assurance Company, was shown into the
Office Of Mr.. George George, the com
pany's solicitor.
"Well, " he said, "any result from the
inquiries in Stuckey's case ?"
AYES, a little" replied Mr.. George ;
"but / am afraid nothing that is much
use to us at present
alt is not case of suicide ?"
"Judge COR yourself. You remember
that at the inquest the Rev. Alfred
Stuckey stated that he returned with his
father from Richmond about >, and left
a quarter of an hour later in order to
catch the 5:35 Metropolitan train to
Kings Cross"
81 do.
every we'll Now I have ascertained
that Mr.. Alfred and the deceased took a
carriage mt Richmond not long before 4
p. NJ, but were only driven as far as
Barnes, where. at their own request
they were put down on the tow-path
have found the lyman, who says that he
set them down on the tow-path nearly
opposite Chiswick about 4:3), and saw
thom walk away eastward. We have also
cot hold Of an old woman who saw
them on the tOw-path near Hammer
smith bridge but whether below or
above she cannot state walking
in the direction of Pntney. She
saws it WIS within q few minutes
of O'Clock. and just getting dusk. On
that day, October 18th, the sun, you
will find. set at 4:j7 Now. it is not i'm
possible, Of course, that Alfred Stuekey
NAV have been on the tow-path walking
toward Putnev about ) O'Clock, and yet
have aftorwsrd caught the 5:35 train
but TO my mind this evidence throws
grave doubt on his story. Remember,
we have only Alfred Stuckey's word for
it that the deceased ever went home at
all. On the other hand there is strong
presumption that sometime after > o'clock
that night no found his way into the
river, having been, according to tho
medical testimony, knocked on the head
first. presumably by some one who had
a motive for doing 50, which a stranger
to him would not have.
"You think he was murdered !?
81 form no theory at present ; but |
think that Messrs. Alfred and Ephraim
Stuckev between them know more about
their fathers disappearance than they
have vet disclosed, and that the evi-
donce we now have offers very cOnve-
nient means of squeezing the truth out
OF then"
"Thcn what do Won advise p
"Put all our information in the hands
of the police. We shall never prove
suicide. and if it be a case of murder
that does not help the Office. 1t is,
therefore. not worth the company S while
to spend money on further inquiries
On the other hand. if there be any fraud
in the case. the truth will very soon come
out when one or the other of these gen
tlemen is arrested on charge OF murder,
which expect We shall see before an
other week IS over
In this last conjecture Mr.. George
George was not mistaken-ho very sell
dom was about such matters. Within
four or five days from the time when he
forwarded his information to Scotland
Yard the Rev. Alfred Stuckey was in
custody, charged with numbering his
father.
When he appeated before the maGs-
trate the facts detailed by Mr.. George
were supplemented by piece OF evil
dence of the most damning character.
4 tramp, named Higgs, was called. and
he deposed to having seen the deceased,
whom he knew we'll by sight, in COM
panv with another man on the !Owpath
between Hammersnith and Putney some
time after dark to having overheard
something like an alteration, the old
man apparently refusing to 80 on,
and the Young one threatening to
chuck him into the river if he were
troublesome and, finally, to having
heard loud cries after he had passed.
Riggs did not attempt to identify the
prisoner, but he was sure that the man
with the deceased was in black coat,
and closely resembled the prisoner In
height and figure. With regard to the
time ne was uncertain but 1t was clear
from his statements that it must have
been within five minutes on either side
of quarter to g. This left time, as the
prosecution showed, for the prisoner t.
catch train at Putncy Bridge by which
he could have reached st. Pancras so as
TO travel by the 40 down train from
that station. On this evidence the
magistrate wishout hesitation committed
the prisoner for trial.
Only one other piece of evidence was
adduced when the trial came off at Old
Bailey, but il had an important bearing
on the issue. 1t appeared that when he
had LETT the University four or five years
previously the prisoner was very much
IN debt that he had lately been threat
cned with summary proceedings by sOme
of his Oxford creditors, and that on the
dav Of his arrival in town he had been
to an advertising money-lender to en-
f deavor to raise money on his
small expectations from his father.
/ In this he had been unsuccessful.
Here, then, as counsel for the
/ Crown did not fail to point ont at the
trial, was a sufficient explanation of the
motive for the diabolcal act. For the
defence every attempt possible was
made to prove an Qiiji, bat none OF the
witnesses who thought that they had
seen the prisoner elsewhere were posi-
tive about the time and IN the face OF
the admitted fact that the prisoner had
/ travelled to and left st. Pancras station
on that night their evidence came to no.
thing. The Judge who, unfortunately
for Alfred Stuckey, happened to have a
reputation for hanging of which he was
not IL little proud, put it to the jury
that their verdict must practically de-
pend upon the weight they attached
to Higgs's evidence, which was not only
consistent with all the evidence as TO the
prisoners previous movements, but was
strongly corroborated 10y the Witness
identification of the deceased. There
could, in fact, said his lorlship, De 10
reasonable doabt that Riggs had seen
the deceased on the tow-path IN company